WELCOME TO SECOND ACTS
“There are no second acts in American lives.”
F. Scott Fitzgerald
I have been intrigued by the quote since the first time I read it. What I only recently learned was that there was no larger context for it. It was a line written on a piece of paper that was believed to be an idea for a book or a part of a book. Who knows? I do know that Fitzgerald was wrong. There are two and even third acts. I spent more than 40 years as a professional journalist, 32 of them at ABC News where I was a correspondent and the news reader at Weekend GMA. I retired in 2018.
In 2021, I began writing for Facebook Bulletin. I called my newsletter Second Acts with the idea that a recurring theme would be stories about people doing new, interesting and offbeat things after changing careers or retiring. As it turned out, I wrote about much more. By just following my own innate sense of curiosity, I wrote about, well, all kinds of things. History. Travel. Philosophy. Sports (mostly baseball). Race. Culture. Music. Art. Education. I follow my curiosity. I once stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike and saw a plaque about a WW2 Marine hero named John Basilone. I wanted to know more about him and discovered his amazing exploits. So I wrote about that. I watched the movie The Alamo to write about the mythology of the Alamo and was curious about a Black actor who appeared in a tiny role. I discovered he was Jester Hairston, a brilliant figure in American gospel music. I wrote about him. I was driving around the Palm Springs area and discovered the gorgeous murals in Coachella that depicted the struggles of migrant farm workers. I wrote about the murals and the stories behind them.
There are stories everywhere waiting to be discovered and told. The greatest reward I get from telling stories is that in the course of researching, reporting and writing literally every one of them, I learn new things myself.
William Faulkner once said mankind is immortal because “he has a soul, capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. It is the poet’s, the writer’s, duty to write about these things.”
Second Acts is a canvas on which I will try to stories about the whims and wonders, and, yes, sometimes the folly and failures of people and life.
TO CHARGE OR NOT TO CHARGE, THAT IS THE QUESTION
I have decided not to charge a fee to access Second Acts. That may change at some point, or not. At least for now, I would like there to be no barrier to readers to sample my writings and decide for yourself if it’s something you like.
ABOUT THE COVER PHOTO
Because some people will ask, it was taken in Death Valley National Park in California in the summer of 2021. It was at sunset at the end of a blistering hot (125 degrees!) day. The legs (and shoes) belong to me. It was meant to capture the new sense of freedom and limitless possibilities that retirement from my career has provided. Some people like it. Some people don’t. I like it.
